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Warren Resources Inc., an exploration and production company with operations in California and Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, Reuters reported. The filing comes as a severe downturn in oil prices has forced scores of energy producers to file bankruptcy since the start of 2015. Up to a third of all producers may be at risk of bankruptcy if commodity prices remain weak, according to a study by consulting firm Deloitte. Warren Resources skipped a $7.5 million interest payment due Feb. 1 on its senior notes and the company defaulted 30 days later. The company listed assets of $230 million and debts of $545 million, as of Jan. 31, according to court documents. Read more. 

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Brisbane, Australia-based Linc Energy announced May 31 that its U.S. subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Houston, the Houston Business Journal reported today. Linc USA GP and 10 other subsidiaries filed the voluntary petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston on May 29. The companies listed total assets of $50 million to $100 million and estimated liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. Linc Energy’s North American offices are in Houston and Anchorage, Alaska. Its oil and gas operations are located primarily in Texas, Wyoming and Alaska. Read more. 

Listen to a panel of experts drill down through the issues involved in an oil and gas bankruptcy at ABI's 23rd Annual Northeast Bankruptcy Conference on July 14-17 at the Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, N.H. Register here.

Get a better understanding of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt. Order your copy of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. 

Specialty chemical manufacturer Vertellus Specialties Inc. placed its U.S. operations under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday and said that its term loan lenders agreed to open the bidding at an auction for most of its business, Dow Jones Newswires reported. A court-supervised sale is the "most efficient means of creating a sustainable financial structure for our company," President and Chief Executive Richard Preziotti said in a release. The bankruptcy filing followed downgrades from ratings firms and a missed payment. Moody's cut Vertellus's credit rating in February, citing "significant earnings deterioration" in its agricultural section as well as a growing risk of environmental liabilities and increased competition from China. Vertellus has lined up $110 million in financing to maintain operations as usual while it goes through the sale process. The money is coming from existing lenders including Black Diamond Capital Management, BlackRock, BlueBay Asset Management, Brightwood Capital Advisors and TPG Special Situations Partners.

Ohio’s Columbus Steel Castings Co., which operated as the country’s largest single site steel foundry until halting operations on May 9, has filed for bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Lawyers who put the factory into chapter 11 protection on Monday blamed the factory’s financial troubles on a broken furnace that, for six weeks last year, halted shipments for steel castings it manufactured that are installed into freight and passenger railcars, locomotives, mining equipment and construction equipment. The breakdown cost roughly $15 million, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Columbus Steel Castings’ lawyers said they found a potential buyer for the company’s 90-acre operations in Columbus, Ohio, but they didn’t identify the buyer or state the value of its offer. Columbus Steel Castings filed for bankruptcy along with three other U.S. manufacturers of metal-based products that plan to continue operating during the case: Zero Manufacturing Inc., Jorgenson Forge Corp. and the operator of Commercial Metal Forming. All four companies are owned by parent company Constellation Enterprises LLC, which also filed for chapter 11 and said the companies collectively face $238 million in debt.

Phone book publisher Dex Media Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday after reaching a restructuring deal with creditors, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Earlier this month, Dex said that it would file for bankruptcy to implement a restructuring deal reached with about two-thirds of its secured lenders and its bondholders. The restructuring plan would likely leave senior lenders with ownership of Dex and is subject to a broad creditor vote and court approval. Dex has said that it hopes to complete the restructuring in the third quarter of this year. The Texas company reported $1.27 billion in assets and $2.65 billion in debts as of Dec. 31 in the chapter 11 petition it filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

KDA Group Inc., formerly Ketchum Directory Advertising, has filed for chapter 11 protection, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Saturday. A filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh said the firm’s liabilities total between $10 million and $50 million and it has assets of less than $500,000. Last year, the business was acquired by YPM Inc. of Irvine, Calif. YPM declined to comment. Ketchum Directory at one time was part of Pittsburgh-based Ketchum Communications, which was sold in 1996 to Omnicon Group of New York.

Linn Energy LLC, reeling from the oil and gas slump, filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas with a debt-restructuring agreement that would split off Berry Petroleum Co., Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The Houston-based exploration and production company intends to keep operating during the reorganization. Linn said that it has enough cash on hand to run the business and doesn’t intend to arrange debtor-in-possession financing. The collapse in oil and gas prices forced companies to slash more than $100 billion in spending globally and eliminate more than 250,000 jobs in 2015. In February, Linn tried to buy time by exhausting a $3.6 billion credit facility. That added about $919 million to its debt load, while its Berry Petroleum unit used up a $900 million facility. Linn also hired Lazard as financial adviser and Kirkland & Ellis LLP for legal counsel. Read more. 

A panel of experts dissects current issues in the energy sector at today’s New York City Bankruptcy Conference. Walk-up registration available! 

Get a better understanding of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt. Order your copy of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. 

Oil and gas company Chaparral Energy Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, the latest victim of low oil prices that continue to devastate the industry, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Oklahoma City-based oil and gas driller filed for chapter 11 protection as it works to negotiate the terms of a debt-for-equity swap with its lenders and bondholders that will slash $1.2 billion in debt off its books. The company intends to continue operating without interruption throughout the restructuring and is seeking court approval to continue paying its employee and royalties to mineral owners. Chaparral skipped a March interest payment to bondholders and said it would default on the bonds, and thus all $1.6 billion of its debt, at the expiration of a 30-day grace period. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

A panel of experts dissects current issues in the energy sector at Thursday’s New York City Bankruptcy Conference. Click here to register. 

Get a better understanding of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt. Order your copy of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition.